September 29, 2004
 
Dear John & Doves...
 
After being away for a short time, I have been catching up on the Five Doves postings
and I am convinced that the Lord has put it on my heart to cease writing after today.
 
The few posts I have made, I have attempted to treat everyone with respect, and each
time that I have written, I have prayed for direction as to what to say. I do not claim that
such prayers have resulted in any sort of infallibility, far from it.  I am a sinner saved by
Grace, and I am prone to human error as are all of us.
 
I have firm beliefs regarding the recent controversy regarding the legitimacy of all the
various conspiracy theories that have been bandied about.  I will not re-visit all of the
pro and con arguments, they have all been amply discussed.
 
One of my first posts generated a response from a Five Doves poster who shall remain
unnamed, which engaged in name calling and every sort of un-Christian behavior. I was
labeled a "classic shyster", and despite my refusing to respond in kind, I treated that
poster with respect, asking them to simply substantiate what they were saying, I ended
up being informed that they would no longer read anything that I had to say. During my
brief absence last week or so, I noted that same poster referring to me as a 'weasel' in
yet another confrontation with a Five Doves poster who had apparently rubbed them the
wrong way.  Their callous and rude words, their refusal to even consider a viewpoint
which may be in contradiction of their own, their arrogance in their presumption that
their word is always the final word, that is not the Fruit of the Holy Spirit, the Fruit that
even yesterday (Tues September 28th) they scoffed at and dismissed as just:
"The "fruits".......yeah, that old standby works every time. <G>"
 
The one key question which any assembly of Christians must ask themselves is whether
a person who claims to speak with authority, who presents themselves as having spiritual
insight into any matter, conducts themselves in a way which gives credit and Glory to the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Message of Christ is Eternal and unchanging - the need for all
humanity to come to the Cross of Calvary, to obtain Salvation, to have our sins washed
away in the Precious Blood of Christ. That Message does not change with the seasons,
it does not change to adopt or adapt to the latest fads (or conspiracies), it is a Message
which will not yield to the mere imaginations and proclamations of men, just as our Lord
Jesus Christ would not yield and would not compromise. There will indeed be people who
will vainly attempt to find ways to bend that Message to fit their own agendas, their own
pet theories, their own world view, but such actions must inevitably fail. It is not uncommon
for someone to ask if somebody 'broke a Commandment', but the fact is, nobody is able
to 'break' a Commandment, but they can certainly break *themselves* upon one or more
of those Commandments. And so it is when someone attempts to bend the Message of
Jesus Christ to fit their own preconceived notions. We bend to God, not the other way
around.
 
So we must ask ourselves on a daily basis, 'what is our motivation for embracing Jesus'?
Each day we must approach the Cross, seeking the Holy Spirit to remind us that we can
do nothing without Christ, that we must walk on faith, not by sight, and especially: not by
pride and ego and belief in what 'we' can do because we perceive ourselves as wise and
knowledgable. God is not pleased by proud, haughty attitudes, by name calling and sneers,
and we can either choose to learn that lesson early on and take it to heart, or refuse to be
educated on the need for humility in all things, and be rudely awakened later. I have been
rudely awakened in the past, and it was a hard lesson to learn. Some people don't need to
be rudely awakened, some do.
 
God Bless you all.
 
Regards,
 
John Russell
jr9163@hotmail.com